Frederick D. Disanto Buys 1,923 Shares of The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML) Stock

The Eastern Company (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) Director Frederick D. Disanto acquired 1,923 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $22.20 per share, with a total value of $42,690.60. Following the transaction, the director now owns 75,046 shares in the company, valued at $1,666,021.20. This represents a 2.63% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Eastern Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of EML traded down $0.48 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $22.30. The stock had a trading volume of 4,816 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,594. The company has a market cap of $137.08 million, a P/E ratio of -21.65 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The Eastern Company has a 52 week low of $19.06 and a 52 week high of $35.03. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $22.32 and a 200 day moving average of $25.76.

Eastern (NASDAQ:EML - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.41 by ($0.10). Eastern had a positive return on equity of 10.44% and a negative net margin of 2.26%. The firm had revenue of $63.31 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $71.33 million.

Eastern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, May 15th will be given a $0.11 dividend. This represents a $0.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 15th. Eastern's payout ratio is presently -33.33%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Separately, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Eastern from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 8th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Eastern

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of EML. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the first quarter valued at about $591,000. Citadel Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Eastern in the fourth quarter valued at about $340,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 165.2% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 19,221 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 11,974 shares during the period. Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 256,278 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $6,802,000 after purchasing an additional 9,524 shares during the period. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Eastern by 43.4% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 20,533 shares of the industrial products company's stock valued at $520,000 after purchasing an additional 6,219 shares during the period. 76.99% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Eastern Company Profile

The Eastern Company designs, manufactures, and sells engineered solutions to industrial markets in the United States and internationally. The company offers turnkey returnable packaging solutions, which are used in the assembly processes of vehicles, aircraft, and durable goods, as well as in production processes of plastic packaging products, packaged consumer goods, and pharmaceuticals; designs and manufactures blow mold tools and injection blow mold tooling products, and 2-step stretch blow molds and related components for the stretch blow molding industry; and supplies blow molds and change parts to the food, beverage, healthcare, and chemical industries.